About this afternoon … post-Super Bowl edition

But there are good performances to enjoy and positive signs that the team’s future will not be as bleak as this season.

This will be a brief edition because the ol’ blogger had entirely too much to eat and drink while watching Eli Manning concoct another fourth-quarter miracle.

Truth to tell, memories of what transpired at the Bell Centre Sunday afternoon are a bit hazy.

It was, after all, six hours and 600 television commercials ago.

Did Madonna really buy Schwartz’s?

Let’s just polish the hockey game off in bullet form:

• The Canadiens climbed back into 14th place and they have a game in hand on Carolina.

• They were spoilers for the Jets, who are stuck in 10th place. The Canadiens could still out a damper on postseason hopes for a bunch of teams … including Toronto at the Bell Centre on April 7.

• Carey Price faced only 23 shots but made spectacular saves and was full value for his third shutout of the season.

• 21,273 held their breath for a ridiculously long time when it looked like Tomas Plekanec’s shot may have ticked in off Scott Gomez. Didn’t happen … so the drought enters Year II.

• Plekanec had his first two-point game since Dec. 27, and his saucer pass to Alexei Emelin for a shortie was exquisite. Pleks was 13-8 on draws and played 23:46 – 10 minutes more than either David David Desharnais or Lars Eller and 13 minutes more than Gomez.

• A statistical oddity: Nine Canadiens were plus-1. And nine Jets were minus-1.

• Through translator Gennadi Boguslavski, Emelin did post-game interviews for the first time since training camp. He let his body do the talking against the Jets: six hitsThis guy is going to be a mainstay of the Canadiens’ blueline for a long time.

• Max Pacioretty’s 19 goals are a personal high at any serious level of hockey. Max-Pac has bounced back fully from his post-suspension funk and does good things on every shift.

• Hal Gill, who played 8:33 in the loss to Washington, had 19:10 of ice time against Winnipeg – almost six minutes of it on the PK, which was perfect again.

• The Canadiens, who led the league in Too Many Men minors under Jacques Martin, took their first under Randy Cunneyworth … and it didn’t happen until the game was safely in hand.

• Louis Leblanc played double-digit minutes and looked like he belonged in The Show.

• Mathieu Darche played a season-high 20:14, including heroic work on the PK.

• There were 15 scouts at the game, probably because Canadiens-Jets could be billed as Battle of the Trade Deadline Sellers.

The Canadiens have 49 points and 29 games left.

They’d have to go something like 20-6-3 to make the playoffs.

Almost certainly ain’t gonna happen.

But as Super Bowl Sunday matinees go, a 3-0 shutout of the Jets beat the heck out of the 2009 barber-pole uni debacle against Boston.

After three games in four days, the Canadiens are off Monday before playing host to Pittsburgh Tuesday night.

Funny that both TSN and The Score have this morning shown a replay of the Subban and Wheeler fight. Subban isn’t about to be confused with Bob Probert, but both media outlets commented that “nothing was really happening” during that fight. No comment regarding the perceived winner.

Subban didn’t remind me of Kovalchuk v. Schenn or anything but he clearly landed no less than four punches to Wheeler’s one and threw Wheeler to the ice like a child.

Had Subban been on the losing end of that fight, I’m certain the media would have been more enthusiastic about airing it and providing commentary.

The Giants had the Pats exactly where they wanted them at the begining of the 4 th quarter. A simple look back at the last month of the regular season would have shown you that this is Eli`s territory.

It`s humble pie time for the Pats (again) but to be honest they did a good job ,just not enough to be better than the Giants. So this morning is all about the little brother that won twice what his supposedly all-star big bro could not do.

The NFL is really a league of its own. When the time comes to deliver they do. Every time. All and all a great day yesterday even my habs won !

You guys should be embarrassed asking an effing poll question like that. Keep leading the cheers for mocking the Habs and their players, idiots. Every agent will see it and only use the Habs to raise what their UFAs get paid as they head elsewhere. Most young players drafted by Montreal will do their damnedest to get out town ASAP. A-holes in sombreros and absolute f*****g morons in black-face. Way to go. Just keep on piling up the shit and Montreal will become Phoenix, a pariah in the league.
Ah, it’s Monday and I’m up early.

In what way is a poll like that offending people indicative of that group living in a fantasy land or being out of touch with reality?

If you’re embarrassed to be a fan of this organization. I’m sorry you feel that way. But there are some people out there who find that poll question offensive in nature due to it insulting the franchise that most people here admire and the fans of it themselves.

If you equate being offended at an insulting question with living outside of reality, maybe a long look in that Mirror Mirror on the Wall would be a good plan of action for YOU.

I sure do agree 1000 % with you.What pisses me off is that we want changes in Montreal G.M., players,coaches and what not but we get to keep the same reporters and the same negative attitude in the medias . Things will never change cause those guys have way too much place and influence .

The only way to deal with them is to turn them off. I find that all that negativity is not helping the situation and quite honestly with all that crap, they deserve the team they get.

I agree with you 100% G-Man. Whoever comes up with these poll questions should be fired. We face legions of Leaf and Bruin fans everyday and when times are like this we keep a brave face because we are Habs fans. No need of stirring the pot by our own blogsite.

Re the poll: Am I embarrassed to be a Canadiens fan? Definitely not; I am proud to be one. I would be ashamed, however, if the Canadiens started losing games deliberately to gain a high draft choice. Tanking games is disgraceful. The Montreal Canadiens do not tank games.

Losing on purpose basically means that no one should show up at the Bell Centre. What would be the point? In fact, why buy any tickets until 2014, your so-called year the team can contend?
I want the team to deliver its best effort, game in and game out. If they lose while giving an honest effort, that’s fine. This “let’s lose the rest of the season to get a high draft pick” is dishonest to any fan paying for tickets.

Who said anything about throwing games? I said the worst thing that could happen is they move up the standings. It’s a fact.

Dishonest is telling people that a team that barely makes the play-offs year in and year out is a contender for the Cup.

What I am saying is sell at the deadline. Tell fans the team is building for the future. For once and finally for a change. The worst thing they can do is buy to try and make the play-offs at this point.

Ticket prices are already plummeting. Part of it is due to the fact that most people see the play-offs as the longest of long shots but I suspect it is more because fans are showing their displeasure with management’s dishonesty. Not the dishonesty you suggest by the one I have pointed out.

You ought to stop guessing about what I think and start reading what I actually wrote before you respond. All I said is that losing games deliberately is shameful. Your initial response indicated that you think that’s okay–otherwise there was no reason for you to respond in the way you did–but you quickly backtracked when G-Man confronted you and your later response agreed fully with what I wrote. The fundamental rule of sportsmanship is that a team compete honestly, that it make full effort to win the match.

As a local fan and homer, congrats to Eli and the Giants on a brilliant win. I have to admit though, Brady was just as amazing, setting the Super Bowl record for consecutive completions and probably would have won except for 3 key passes that were in his receiver’s hands.